What if Cyberpunk 2077 had let our companions keep living after their questlines ended?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot after another playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty.
The thing that struck me is that Phantom Liberty understands something the base game sometimes forgets: characters don't stop being characters just because their questline is finished.
And that made me realize what I really wanted from the romances wasn't more romance dialogue.
I wanted their lives to continue.
Take River.
The game establishes that he's leaving the NCPD and trying to start a new life as a private investigator. And then… nothing.
But imagine if the game actually followed through.
River & V Investigations
River gets a small PI job.
The client can't afford a conventional investigation.
River calls V.
You meet at some miserable Night City location.
Maybe you're investigating a missing person. Maybe insurance fraud. Maybe someone's daughter disappeared after joining a gang.
River handles the investigation, police contacts and interviews.
V handles the parts that require breaking into buildings, hacking databases, intimidating people, or—because this is V—accidentally starting a small war.
And eventually the cases get bigger.
Maybe River discovers one of his old NCPD contacts is feeding information to criminals.
Now you have a choice:
Help River expose the corruption… or handle it the Night City way.
And because River is your partner, there could actually be consequences at home.
THAT'S what I mean by a relationship.
And Judy has an equally obvious path.
She has the Mox connections, technical skills, a deep hatred of the exploitation of vulnerable women, and everything that happened to Evelyn.
Imagine Judy calling V because another young woman has disappeared into the doll industry.
Judy isn't suddenly a combat companion. She doesn't need to be.
She's the investigator and the moral engine of the mission.
She hacks records. Finds connections. Identifies victims.
V goes into the places where Judy can't safely go.
And then you discover it isn't one victim.
It's a pipeline.
Judy looks at V and says:
“We're not leaving until we know where they all are.”
That is a Judy mission.
And it would make the romance matter without turning the game into endless apartment dialogue.
That's the bigger idea I'm trying to get at:
Character has a life → something happens → character calls V → V gets involved → choices matter → relationship changes → life continues.
Instead, too often we get:
Character has a life → V helps solve their biggest problem → emotional resolution → character becomes an apartment NPC.
After spending 100–200+ hours with these people, it's hard not to feel like something is missing.
And Phantom Liberty showed how powerful the alternative could be.
Look at Songbird.
Her story doesn't end with “So Mi is now available at V's apartment.”
What happens to her changes the shape of the game. You make choices about her. You question her motives. You decide how much you're willing to sacrifice for her.
The game gives you consequences.
That's why those characters stick with you.
So why couldn't the original companions have gotten even one small follow-up arc?
River: PI cases and NCPD corruption.
Judy: Mox investigations and continuing the fight against the doll industry.
Panam: Aldecaldo jobs and the consequences of their growing power.
Kerry: Fame, aging, music and figuring out what comes next.
Not giant expansions.
Not endless romance scenes.
Stories.
Let these people have lives that continue alongside V.
Because that's what makes Night City feel alive.
You're not just exploring a city.
You're watching it continue to happen.
Full version: I put together a longer write-up with the River/Judy concepts, additional examples, and the broader design idea.
One thing I want to be completely transparent about: I developed this through an extended conversation with ChatGPT. The starting thought was mine—particularly the idea that River should actually get to become the PI the game sets him up to be—and ChatGPT was instrumental in expanding that thought into the larger companion/story framework and helping me organize it into this proposal.
So yes, this is a human player's idea that was developed in collaboration with an AI, and I'm giving ChatGPT credit for the part it played.
I'd genuinely like to know what other people think:
If CDPR had given each major companion one additional post-quest story arc, what would you have wanted yours to be?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot after another playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty.
The thing that struck me is that Phantom Liberty understands something the base game sometimes forgets: characters don't stop being characters just because their questline is finished.
And that made me realize what I really wanted from the romances wasn't more romance dialogue.
I wanted their lives to continue.
Take River.
The game establishes that he's leaving the NCPD and trying to start a new life as a private investigator. And then… nothing.
But imagine if the game actually followed through.
River & V Investigations
River gets a small PI job.
The client can't afford a conventional investigation.
River calls V.
You meet at some miserable Night City location.
Maybe you're investigating a missing person. Maybe insurance fraud. Maybe someone's daughter disappeared after joining a gang.
River handles the investigation, police contacts and interviews.
V handles the parts that require breaking into buildings, hacking databases, intimidating people, or—because this is V—accidentally starting a small war.
And eventually the cases get bigger.
Maybe River discovers one of his old NCPD contacts is feeding information to criminals.
Now you have a choice:
Help River expose the corruption… or handle it the Night City way.
And because River is your partner, there could actually be consequences at home.
THAT'S what I mean by a relationship.
And Judy has an equally obvious path.
She has the Mox connections, technical skills, a deep hatred of the exploitation of vulnerable women, and everything that happened to Evelyn.
Imagine Judy calling V because another young woman has disappeared into the doll industry.
Judy isn't suddenly a combat companion. She doesn't need to be.
She's the investigator and the moral engine of the mission.
She hacks records. Finds connections. Identifies victims.
V goes into the places where Judy can't safely go.
And then you discover it isn't one victim.
It's a pipeline.
Judy looks at V and says:
“We're not leaving until we know where they all are.”
That is a Judy mission.
And it would make the romance matter without turning the game into endless apartment dialogue.
That's the bigger idea I'm trying to get at:
Character has a life → something happens → character calls V → V gets involved → choices matter → relationship changes → life continues.
Instead, too often we get:
Character has a life → V helps solve their biggest problem → emotional resolution → character becomes an apartment NPC.
After spending 100–200+ hours with these people, it's hard not to feel like something is missing.
And Phantom Liberty showed how powerful the alternative could be.
Look at Songbird.
Her story doesn't end with “So Mi is now available at V's apartment.”
What happens to her changes the shape of the game. You make choices about her. You question her motives. You decide how much you're willing to sacrifice for her.
The game gives you consequences.
That's why those characters stick with you.
So why couldn't the original companions have gotten even one small follow-up arc?
River: PI cases and NCPD corruption.
Judy: Mox investigations and continuing the fight against the doll industry.
Panam: Aldecaldo jobs and the consequences of their growing power.
Kerry: Fame, aging, music and figuring out what comes next.
Not giant expansions.
Not endless romance scenes.
Stories.
Let these people have lives that continue alongside V.
Because that's what makes Night City feel alive.
You're not just exploring a city.
You're watching it continue to happen.
Full version: I put together a longer write-up with the River/Judy concepts, additional examples, and the broader design idea.
One thing I want to be completely transparent about: I developed this through an extended conversation with ChatGPT. The starting thought was mine—particularly the idea that River should actually get to become the PI the game sets him up to be—and ChatGPT was instrumental in expanding that thought into the larger companion/story framework and helping me organize it into this proposal.
So yes, this is a human player's idea that was developed in collaboration with an AI, and I'm giving ChatGPT credit for the part it played.
I'd genuinely like to know what other people think:
If CDPR had given each major companion one additional post-quest story arc, what would you have wanted yours to be?